Anderson transition in 1D systems with spatial disorder

A simple Kronig-Penney model for 1D mesoscopic systems with δ peak potentials is used to study numerically the influence of spatial disorder on conductance fluctuations and distribution at different regimes. The Lévy laws are used to investigate the statistical properties of the eigenstates. It is found that an Anderson transition occurs even in 1D meaning that the disorder can also provide constructive quantum interferences. The critical disorder W_c for this transition is estimated. In these 1D systems, the metallic phase is well characterized by a Gaussian conductance distribution. Indeed, the results relative to conductance distribution are in good agreement with the previous works in 2D and 3D systems for other models. At this transition, the conductance probability distribution has a system size independent shape with large fluctuations in good agreement with previous works.     

Resonant quantum coherence of magnetization at excited states in nanospin systems with different crystal symmetries

The quantum interference effects induced by the Wess-Zumino term, or Berry phase are studied theoretically in resonant quantum coherence of the magnetization vector between degenerate states in nanometer-scale single-domain ferromagnets in the absence of an external magnetic field. We consider the magnetocrystalline anisotropy with trigonal, tetragonal and hexagonal crystal symmetry, respectively. By applying the periodic instanton method in the spin-coherent-state path integral, we evaluate the low-lying tunnel splittings between degenerate excited states of neighboring wells. And the low-lying energy level spectrum of mth excited state are obtained with the help of the Bloch theorem in one-dimensional periodic potential. The energy level spectrum and the thermodynamic properties of magnetic tunneling states are found to depend significantly on the total spins of ferromagnets at sufficiently low temperatures. Possible relevance to experiments is also discussed. Received 15 December 1999     

Quantum Hall effect in intentionally disordered two‐dimensional electron systems

In this work intentionally disordered two‐dimensional electron systems in modulation doped GaAs/GaAlAs heterostructures are studied by magnetotransport experiments. The disorder is provided by a δ‐doped layer of negatively charged beryllium acceptors. In low magnetic fields a strong negative magnetoresistance is observed that can be ascribed to magnetic‐field‐induced delocalization. At increased magnetic fields the quantum Hall effect exhibits broad Hall plateaus whose centers are shifted to higher magnetic fields, i.e. lower filling factors. This shift can be explained by an asymmetric density of states. Consistently, the transition into the insulating state of quantum Hall droplets in high magnetic fields occurs at critical filling factors around ν_c=0.4, i.e. well below the value 1/2 that is expected for symmetric disorder potentials. The insulator transition is characterized by the divergence of both the longitudinal resistance as well as the Hall resistance. This is contrary to other experiments which observe a finite Hall resistance in the insulating regime and has not been observed previously. According to recent theoretical studies the divergence of the Hall resistance points to quantum coherent transport via tunneling between quantum Hall droplets. The magnetotransport experiments are supplemented by simulations of potential landscapes for random and correlated distributions of repulsive scatterers, which enable the determination of percolation thresholds, densities of states, and oscillator strengths for far‐infrared excitations. These simulations reveal that the strong shift of the Hall plateaus and the observed critical filling factor for the insulator transition in high magnetic fields require an asymmetric density of states that can only be generated by a strongly correlated beryllium distribution. Cyclotron resonance on the same samples also indicates the possibility of correlations between the beryllium acceptors.     

Tricritical point and wing structure in the itinerant ferromagnet UGe₂

Precise resistivity measurements on the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2 under pressure p and magnetic field H reveal a previously unobserved change of the anomaly at the Curie temperature. Therefore, the tricritical point (TCP) where the paramagnetic-to-ferromagnetic transition changes from a second order to a first order transition is located in the p-T phase diagram. Moreover, the evolution of the TCP can be followed under the magnetic field in the same way. It is the first report of the boundary of the first order plane which appears in the p-T-H phase diagram of weak itinerant ferromagnets. This line of critical points starts from the TCP and will terminate at a quantum critical point. These measurements provide the first estimation of the location of the quantum critical point in the p-H plane and will inspire similar studies of the other weak itinerant ferromagnets.     

Universality in the entanglement structure of ferromagnets

Systems of exchange-coupled spins are commonly used to model ferromagnets. The quantum correlations in such magnets are studied using tools from quantum information theory. Isotropic ferromagnets are shown to possess a universal low-temperature density matrix which precludes entanglement between spins, and the mechanism of entanglement cancellation is investigated, revealing a core of states resistant to pairwise entanglement cancellation. Numerical studies of one-, two-, and three-dimensional lattices as well as irregular geometries showed no entanglement in ferromagnets at any temperature or magnetic field strength.     

Onset of magnetism in the yttrium-nickel compounds: I. Collective electron metamagnetism in Y2Ni17

In the homogeneity range of the Y₂Ni₁₇ phase the compounds are weak ferromagnets. Some Ni atoms are ferromagnetic, others for which the Stoner criterion is almost fulfilled show metamagnetism of collective electrons. This property, previously observed in ThCo₅, manifests itself in Y₂Ni₁₆ with a maximum in the thermal variations of the spontaneous magnetization and of the superposed susceptibility. At low temperature a transition to a state of higher magnetization is observed in high fields. Differences in the local Ni environment are important. Small variations of the composition can induce modifications of the magnetic interactions large enough to stabilize low or high magnetization states.     

Experimental realization of strong effective magnetic fields in an optical lattice

We use Raman-assisted tunneling in an optical superlattice to generate large tunable effective magnetic fields for ultracold atoms. When hopping in the lattice, the accumulated phase shift by an atom is equivalent to the Aharonov-Bohm phase of a charged particle exposed to a staggered magnetic field of large magnitude, on the order of 1 flux quantum per plaquette. We study the ground state of this system and observe that the frustration induced by the magnetic field can lead to a degenerate ground state for noninteracting particles. We provide a measurement of the local phase acquired from Raman-induced tunneling, demonstrating time-reversal symmetry breaking of the underlying Hamiltonian. Furthermore, the quantum cyclotron orbit of single atoms in the lattice exposed to the magnetic field is directly revealed.     

Magnon condensation into a Q ball in 3He-B

The theoretical prediction of Q balls in relativistic quantum fields is realized here experimentally in superfluid 3He-B. The condensed-matter analogs of relativistic Q balls are responsible for an extremely long-lived signal of magnetic induction observed in NMR at the lowest temperatures. This Q ball is another representative of a state with phase coherent precession of nuclear spins in 3He-B, similar to the well-known homogeneously precessing domain, which we interpret as Bose-Einstein condensation of spin waves--magnons. At large charge Q, the effect of self-localization is observed. In the language of relativistic quantum fields it is caused by interaction between the charged and neutral fields, where the neutral field provides the potential for the charged one. In the process of self-localization the charged field modifies locally the neutral field so that the potential well is formed in which the charge Q is condensed.     

Experimental realization of strong effective magnetic fields in optical superlattice potentials

We present the experimental generation of large effective magnetic fields for ultracold atoms using photon-assisted tunneling in an optical superlattice. The underlying method does not rely on the internal structure of the atoms and, therefore, constitutes a general approach to realize widely tunable artificial gauge fields without the drawbacks of near-resonant optical potentials. When hopping in the lattice, the accumulated phase shift by an atom is equivalent to the Aharonov–Bohm phase of a charged particle exposed to a staggered magnetic field of large magnitude, on the order of one flux quantum per plaquette. We study the ground state of this system and observe that the frustration induced by the magnetic field can lead to a degenerate ground state for non-interacting particles. We provide a local measurement of the phase acquired by single particles due to photon-assisted tunneling. Furthermore, the quantum cyclotron orbit of single atoms in the lattice exposed to the effective magnetic field is directly revealed.     

The magnetic phase transition in amorphous ferromagnets and in spin glasses

The magnetic phase transition in materials with exchange disorder (amorphous ferromagnets, spin glasses) is discussed. In the critical temperature range the behavior of amorphous ferromagnetic transition metal-metalloid glasses is found to be similar to the one derived for a three-dimensional homogeneous Heisenberg ferromagnet. The most prominent difference between disordered and homogeneous materials is manifested in a large temperature range of deviations from the mean field behavior beyond the critical region, as observed experimentally for the temperature dependence of the linear susceptibility of amorphous ferromagnets and of the nonlinear susceptibility of spin glasses. A molecular field theory with correlations in space and time is developed, which relates the deviations from the mean field behavior to the interplay between the temperature dependent thermal correlations in the spin system and the spatial fluctuations of the material. Application to dynamical processes (kinetic critical slowing down) is discussed.     

Effective magnetic monopoles and universal conductance fluctuations

The observation of isolated positive and negative charges, but not isolated magnetic north and south poles, is an old puzzle. Instead, evidence of effective magnetic monopoles has been found in the abstract momentum space. Apart from Hall-related effects, few observable consequences of these abstract monopoles are known. Here, we show that it is possible to manipulate the monopoles by external magnetic fields and probe them by universal conductance fluctuation measurements in ferromagnets with strong spin-orbit coupling. The observed fluctuations are not noise, but reproducible quasiperiodic oscillations as a function of magnetization direction, a novel Berry phase fingerprint of the magnetic monopoles.     

Dissipationless transport in low-density bilayer systems

In a bilayer electronic system the layer index may be viewed as the z component of an isospin- 1 / 2. An XY isospin-ordered ferromagnetic phase was observed in quantum Hall systems and is predicted to exist at zero magnetic field at low density. This phase is a superfluid for opposite currents in the two layers. At B = 0 the system is gapless but superfluidity is not destroyed by weak disorder. In the quantum Hall case, weak disorder generates a random gauge field which probably does not destroy superfluidity. Experimental signatures include Coulomb drag and collective mode measurements.     

Nature of the quantum phase transition to a spin-nematic phase

It is shown that the quantum phase transition in metallic non-s-wave ferromagnets, or spin nematics, is generically of first order. This is due to a coupling of the order parameter to soft electronic modes that play a role analogous to that of the electromagnetic vector potential in a superconductor, which leads to a fluctuation-induced first-order transition. A generalized mean-field theory for the p-wave case is constructed that explicitly shows this effect. Tricritical wings are predicted to appear in the phase diagram in a spatially varying magnetic field, but not in a homogeneous one.     

Quantum interferences in four-wave mixing processes inside a cavity driven by quantized fields

Interferences in the quantum fluctuations of the output fields are demonstrated in four-wave mixing processes inside a cavity,which is driven by two quantized fields at the signal and the idler frequencies.These interferences depend on the phase fluctuations of the input fields and induce mode splitting in the transmission spectra.     

The phase and critical point of quantum Einstein–Cartan gravity

By introducing diffeomorphism and local Lorentz gauge invariant holonomy fields, we study in the recent article [S.-S. Xue, Phys. Rev. D 82 (2010) 064039] the quantum Einstein–Cartan gravity in the framework of Regge calculus. On the basis of strong coupling expansion, mean-field approximation and dynamical equations satisfied by holonomy fields, we present in this Letter calculations and discussions to show the phase structure of the quantum Einstein–Cartan gravity, (i) the order phase: long-range condensations of holonomy fields in strong gauge couplings; (ii) the disorder phase: short-range fluctuations of holonomy fields in weak gauge couplings. According to the competition of the activation energy of holonomy fields and their entropy, we give a simple estimate of the possible ultra-violet critical point and correlation length for the second-order phase transition from the order phase to disorder one. At this critical point, we discuss whether the continuum field theory of quantum Einstein–Cartan gravity can be possibly approached when the macroscopic correlation length of holonomy field condensations is much larger than the Planck length.     

Mesoscopic effects in the quantum Hall regime

We report results of a study of (integer) quantum Hall transitions in a single or multiple Landau levels for non-interacting electrons in disordered two-dimensional systems, obtained by projecting a tight-binding Hamiltonian to the corresponding magnetic subbands. In finite-size systems, we find that mesoscopic effects often dominate, leading to apparent non-universal scaling behavior in higher Landau levels. This is because localization length, which grows exponentially with Landau level index, exceeds the system sizes amenable to the numerical study at present. When band mixing between multiple Landau levels is present, mesoscopic effects cause a crossover from a sequence of quantum Hall transitions for weak disorder to classical behavior for strong disorder. This behavior may be of relevance to experimentally observed transitions between quantum Hall states and the insulating phase at low magnetic fields.     

Dynamics of <Emphasis Type="Italic">ab</Emphasis>-type domain walls in magnets with quadratic magnetoelectric interaction

The dynamics of the ab-type 180-degree domain walls was studied in weak ferromagnets with quadratic magnetoelectric interaction in alternating magnetic and electric fields. The features of the oscillatory and drift motion of the domain walls are discussed. The drift velocity of the ab-type domain walls as a function of the frequency and phase shift of the external fields is obtained. The possibility of the drift of the domain walls in a purely electric field is established.     

Topological phase interference effects in resonant quantum tunneling of the Néel vector between nonequivalent magnetic wells in mesoscopic single-domain antiferromagnets

Resonant quantum tunneling of the Néel vector between nonequivalent magnetic wells is investigated theoretically for a nanometer-scale single-domain antiferromagnet with biaxial crystal symmetry in the presence of an external magnetic field applied along the easy anisotropy axis, based on the two-sublattice model. Both the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin exponent and the preexponential factors are evaluated in the instanton contribution to the tunneling rate for finite and zero magnetic fields by applying the instanton technique in the spin-coherent-state path-integral representation, respectively. The quantum interference or spin-parity effects induced by the topological phase term in the Euclidean action are discussed in the rate of quantum tunneling of the Néel vector. In the absence of an external applied magnetic field, the effect of destructive phase interference or topological quenching on resonant quantum tunneling of the Néel vector is evident for the half-integer excess spin antiferromagnetic nanoparticle. In the weak field limit, the tunneling rates are found to oscillate with the external applied magnetic field for both integer and half-integer excess spins. We discuss the experimental condition on the applied magnetic field which may allow one to observe the topological quenching effect for nanometer-scale single-domain antiferromagnets with half-integer excess spins. Tunneling behavior in resonant quantum tunneling of the magnetization vector between nonequivalent magnetic wells is also studied for a nanometer-scale single-domain ferromagnet by applying the similar technique, but in the large noncompensation limit. Received 4 June 1999     

Field-induced order-disorder transition in antiferromagnetic BaCo(2)V(2)O(8) driven by a softening of spinon excitation

High field magnetization and ESR measurements on the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) antiferromagnet BaCo(2)V(2)O(8) have been performed in magnetic fields up to 50 T along the chain. The experimental results are explained well in terms of a 1D S=1/2 antiferromagnetic XXZ model in longitudinal fields. We show that the quantum phase transition from the Néel ordered phase to the spin liquid one in the model is responsible for a peculiar order to disorder transition in BaCo(2)V(2)O(8).     

Aharonov-Bohm effect in normal metal quantum coherence and transport

We review some of the recent surprising theoretical and experimental results obtained on the transport properties of small disordered metal samples. Even in the presence of disorder, the quantum mechanical interference of electron wavefunctions can still be observed. The Aharonov-Bohm effect is a particularly clear demonstration of this. In doubly connected structures (such as loops of wire) threaded by a magnetic flux, the electrical conductance oscillates because of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. In fact, because the electron trajectories are diffusive (i.e. random walks), even a lone wire (a singly connected structure) will exhibit a random pattern of conductance fluctuations as a function of the magnetic field because of the same interference effects. All that is required for the observation of these interferences is that the electrons retain ‘phase memory’ duing the period of transit through the sample. The length over which memory is maintained (the phase coherence length) can be much larger than the random walk step length (the mean free path). We focus mainly on effects observed in the limit where the phase coherence length of the electrons is comparable to or larger than the sample size. We explain how the interferences are averaged as the system size grows larger than the phase coherence length. We also remark on surprising aspects of the fluctuations such as those resulting from the non-local character of the wavefunction; some of the results are forbidden classically.